Monitor has published its fourth and final report on foundation trust performance - this covers 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2014.
We track the performance of foundation trusts to help them prevent operational issues from turning into quality problems and adversely affecting patient care.
In this podcast, Jason Dorsett, director of financial reporting and risk at Monitor, explains some of the report’s key points.
To find out more, please go to www.GOV.UK/monitor.
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Transcript:
Monitor: Monitor has published its fourth and final report on the performance of the NHS foundation sector.
We track the performance of foundation trusts to help them prevent operational issues from turning into quality problems and adversely affecting patient care.
In this podcast, Jason Dorsett, Monitor’s director of financial reporting and risk at Monitor, explains some of the report’s key points.
To read more, please go to www.GOV.UK/monitor
Monitor: Hi, Jason. This report looks at foundation trusts’ operational, financial and regulatory performance between April 2013 and March 2014. What would you say are the most important trends the report highlights?
• NHS foundation trusts have had mixed experiences in meeting the dual challenge of providing quality care to patients and maintaining good finances during the year;
• Overall, trusts met national performance standards for the majority of operational targets tracked by Monitor over the course of 2013/14
• Trusts hired an additional 24,000 members of staff last year, three times what was planned, in order to upgrade the quality of services to patients
• However, in a sign of the increased pressures upon services, more trusts failed to meet waiting times targets in the final quarter (January to March 2014)
Monitor: What financial trends does the report highlight?
• The NHS foundation trust sector ended the year in surplus, however, the surplus was one-third the size of the previous year, reflecting the increased investment in staffing, and the ongoing challenging economic climate
• 40 trusts ended the year in deficit, which is more than planned (16), and almost double the number last year (21)
• The combined deficit of the 40 trust (£307m) was higher than expected (£190m), although 22 organisations already subject to regulatory action or investigation by Monitor account for 70% of the overall deficit
Thank you for listening to this podcast. For the data in full, please visit www.GOV.UK/monitor